conservative think tank, what will senator jim demint's departure from the senate mean for republicans? following breaking developments from capitol hill. >>> finding a fiscal fix. is a grand bargain possible before the end of the year? tim geithner tells cnbc the white house is ready to over the cliff if republicans don't budge on taxes. >> is the administration prepared to go over the fiscal cliff? >> oh, absolutely. >> alan simpson co-chair of the president's debt commission, says both sides are making a high stakes gamble. >> when you have leaders of parties and people of the administration saying, i think it will be to the advantage of the democrats to go off the cliff, i think it will be advantage to the republicans to go off the cliff, or the president to go off the cliff, that's like betting your country. there's stupidity involved in that. >>> syria on the bring. secretary of state hillary clinton holds emergency talks with russia as u.s. officials confirm reports that the syrian military is prepared to launch chemical weapons against its own people. >> we've made it very clea

war room now. south carolina republican senator jim demint stealing the spotlight this week with his sudden resignation, sparking a lot of speculation about who might replace him. so who will it be and what will demin's departure mean for the gop? and it might not be the only shake-up within the republican party as rnc chairman reis up f e election as well. alex fini and caton dawson, as well. former chairman of the south carolina republican party, former adviser to the rick perry campaign. good to have you both on this saturday afternoon. before we get to the discussion, let me go ahead and address the big elephant in the room, kate dawson. you told reporters at the hill that you would be open to filling the seat that's being left vacant by senator jim demint. has the governor approached you? has she called you? >> craig, i put your name in the hat this morning. i remember when you carried a camera all over south carolina on your shoulder. you along with 1.2 million other people have asked for that job. governor hailey is going to make a solid pick. it's her choice, her constitution

jim demint was giving up his senate seat to become head of the heritage foundation, a conservative think tank in washington. it surprised me. i suppose if it surprised me, it surprised a lot of washingtonians as well. i didn't have any indication he was ready to give up that seat from south carolina. running the heritage foundation is an important position in washington. a lot of influence among conservatives, among republicans. i'm sure he's going to have his work cut out for him there. you're right. it does give up that seat from south carolina. south carolina is a pretty red state and once there are elections in south carolina, assume another republican will be elected from south carolina. it's unlikely that in a formal election they're going to elect a democrat from south carolina to come to washington. hasn't happened in a while. my sense is that republicans will hold that seat eventually and whatever happens with jim demint. i was surprised that he decided to make that decision. we invited him to come on our show today and explain what's going on. i'm sure he's frustrated lik

raise taxes on the wealthy but aims to get the money through cuts in deductions. senator jim demint denounced boehner's plan as a tax hike that will, quote, destroy american jobs and allow politicians in washington to spend even more. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell also distanced himself from the boehner plan declining to endorse it yesterday. >> we've wasted enormous amount of time here sparring back and forth in public, and it strikes me it's a good time to get serious about the proposals. so i have no other particular observation than i commend the house republican leadership for trying to move the process along and getting to a point where hopefully we can have a real discussion. >> but why is the the gop still hot on its desire to raise money through cuts and deductions rather than an actual increase in the top end tax rate? well, i think it's likely because the most ductions in states happen to be the higher blue states. in other words, the gop wants the states that largely reelected the the president to bear the brunt of the financial burden for his plan. and while no deal has

rules the day then. we just got this breaking news that senator jim demint is going to leave the senate in january to become the president of the heritage foundation. demint had been holding boehner's feet to the fire on these tax cuts. what's your reaction to that and this on the heels of reports that boehner is getting strong backing in the house? >> let me start with senator demint. he always has seen himself as a movement conservative. i think what he thinks is he can make a much more significant and much more impactful difference outside leading this movement, ala at the heritage foundation. the heritage foundation has always been an incubator of ideas. moving on to speaker boehner, this is a good thing that he has his caucus behind him. i remind you and the audience that has not always been the case. a lot of tea party folks and other folks have never trusted speaker boehner but they've given him a lot of leeway given the fact they're united by this overall principle that they should not raise taxes on small business owners. >> shouldn't it mean that you should stick out yo

. >> it's a little bit of a civil war going on within the gop. >> a little bit. >> jim demint announcing dshl i interview with him coming up later this hour. he makes it clear, he doesn't like what the concessions on taxes that john boehner has already offered. >> and you see the republican caucus in the house says it's firmly behind john boehner. it is a large figure. it goes back to the grand bargain, which john boehner was almost a part of. and then you see the outside conservatives now, conservative organizations saying we can't do it. so what is the republican party going to stand for? is it going to stand for raising taxes on the rich? you see a lot of republicans saying -- >> can he deliver his republican caucus in the house of representatives, assuming he makes a deal with the president. >> that's a big if. if you do -- the one thing i disagree, i think that top rate is going up to 39.6 at the end of the year. and then maybe in 2013, you negotiate it down. i think the president is going to be very firm on that. they really have no leverage in this negotiation on the tax side. and

gop was in the spotlight today. jim demint spoke out against boehner's proposal to the president. >> republicans should not be conceding that the federal government needs more money, negotiating with ourselves, and treating the president's proposal like it's serious. >> very critical of john boehner. and demint's press release aimed squarely at john boehner. $800 billion tax hike will destroy jobs, allow washington to spend more. as you all know, john boehner put an $800 billion tax hike as a center of his proposal. so john boehner got rejected from the white house, which wants another $800 billion on top of that in tax hikes and then rejected by the right wing of his own party which wants absolutely no tax hikes at all. so unlike harry reid, i actually feel genuine sympathy for john boehner. so kudos, speaker, for showing deserters or dissenters who is boss. boehner stripped house members who opposed key committee assignments today. and earlier i spoke with one republican leader in the house who himself has been out of step with boehner in recent days. deputy whip congressman to

you fear the right wing of your own party, a wing that says any revenue, as you heard jim demint say, no revenue, not part of the deal. do you think that's going to be what hurts your party and makes you feel on this? >> these are my friends and i agree with on the issues. but look, rates are going up if we don't act. some people act as if we can just hold tight and nothing will happen. the opposite is true. we have to react to prevent a massive tax hike. but with all due respect to those people that say we're putting revenue on the table, the american people did that when they elected, you know, the president and a democratic senate again. again, they have to agree to a deal or tax rates on everybody go up. i think we should do everything we can to avoid that for as many people as we possibly can. >> so far, four house gop members, as we said, john boehner has booted them from key committees for going against leadership. you're obviously the deputy whip. you are part of leadership. you have challenged john boehner. i mean, what you put out there, it may sound -- may sound very norma

raise taxes on incomes over $250,000 a year. republican senator jim demint calls the idea quote, outlandish. >> republicans should not be conceding that the federal government needs more money negotiating with ourselves and teating the president's proposal like it's serious. >> republican house speaker john boehner has come out against any tax hike and has refused to bring the democratic plan for a vote. >>> the dow fell almost 14 points. nasdaq lost 5 1/2. the s & p fell 2 1/2 points. >>> yahoo is buying another silicon startup. sunnyvale's yahoo acquired on the air today. the service enables users to hold online video chats in a talk show foremated. >>> a monstrous typhoon has killed 74 people in the philippines and the deattoll is expected to rise. 23 of the people drowned in flooding caused by the typhoon. the storm made landfall yesterday and some 60,000 people have fled to emergency shelters. the crowded shelters in this new video. the typhoon is expected to continue to dump rain for several days. >>> a major pot growing operation inside this house, how police actually dis

. boehner has a more difficult path to negotiate. he's got jim demint in the senate hollering each and every day. he's got his own problems in the house, as we've just spoken to. within the context of this, jack lew, chief of staff, along with treasury geithner, is sitting there every day trying to put something together. jack lew 30 years ago was working for tip o'neill. he knows the rough architecture of a road map towards a deal. one of the keys, especially with regard to speaker boehner is, you cannot leave your opponent, speaker boehner, hanging out there to dry, getting pummeled by his own side. you've got to come to him a little. but i agree with steve rattner, the president is not going to yield on tax rates for the wealthy. he's not going to yield on that. >> he's going to have to yield in some way. i mean, maybe it's 37% that's the top tax rate. >> yeah. >> maybe you go from $250,000 to $400,000 or $250,000 to $500,000. he's going to have to yield. but mike, what jack lew and the president of the united states must know is john boehner is his best-case scenario. if john boehn

boehner plan goes too far in taxing the well-off. south carolina senator jim demint, a staunch fiscal conservative, blasted the plan on twitter today. he said speaker boehner's offer of an $800 billion tax hike will destroy jobs and allow politicians in washington to spend even more. but the senate's democratic majority leader harry reid warned republicans against listening to such voices. >> you can't let these negotiations be dictated by the tea party. our guiding principle should be the views of the vast majority of the american people. the math is clear. the only way to accomplish these things is to allow the rates to go up on the top two percent of tax payers. we're not going to twist ourselves into contortions to apiece a vocal minority of the tea party. >> reporter: in turn, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell said president obama needs to ride herd on democrats if there's any hope of agreement. >> only one person in the country can deliver the members of his party to support a deal that he makes. and that's the president. there have been no deals of this magnitude ma

behind them being comforted? so the optics are not equally matched. i want to talk about senator jim demint and his resignation. we knew he would leave the senate. this timing surprised people. he said in his resignation, michael, i'm leaving the senate and not living the fight. i've decided to join the heritage foundation at a time when the conservative movement needs strong leadership in the battle of ideas. dick army left his conservative group and senator demint making this transition to the think tank. is this another impact of the election? another consequence of the election? >> yeah, i'd love to know what his republican colleagues are saying behind closed doors. from my perch, you know, this is a guy who played a significant role in costing the gop about a half-dozen seats that they otherwise would have won. look at what happened in i understand. look at what happened in delaware where the mindset of senator demint seems to be one of, let's win the battle, even if we're going to lose the war. they've lost about a half-dozen wars because they put forth names that could win a p

jim demint. >> it didn't win in south carolina and the republicans that were eec lected run on limited government and less taxes. they shouldn't give in to that and the princele is wrong . the president doesn't have a plan. all it is is a political trophy to the left. we need to do what is good for america. taxing the rich is not going to help the middle class. >> brian: he has four years left on a second term. he's done more for the tea party movement. you talk about marco rubio and senator cruz in texas. >> steve: ram paul. >> brian: ram paul. i am stunned he would leave in a position of leadership and a go to guy to go to the heritage foundation. >> steve: the heritage foundation is a think tank and in the u.s. senate he is one of hundred voices and over there he will be taking over the guy. >> gretchen: money is number one. $174,000 as a senator and may not be the insentative and make over a million bucks and he said it was an honor to be asked. if could be frustration, too. look, he believed that could you wantry is facing a spending problem, okay. that's what he believes

not all the conservatives in the house and the senate are on board. jim demint, republican senator from south carolina. >> this is a time to negotiate with ourselves. we need to invite the president to work with us. his proposal was so outlandish, i don't think we should go back to the table until he puts something there that we can work with. the president has known about this fiscal cliff for over a year. and many of his decisions caused us to be in this position. >> how much of a problem does boehner have with other republicans potentially? >> it's a big problem. it's always been his problem. it's been a problem for the republican party since they started taking that no tax pledge 30 years ago. what is revenue increase? is closing deductions and loopholes a revenue increase? and if so, do you have to oppose that? i think what we see going on in the republican party right now is a fight between the stalwart, no new tax whatever conservatives and those who believe that they have a responsibility to keep the country from going over the fiscal cliff in the short term and in the long

of january. he holds the wba belt. he's called call -- >>> south carolina republican jim demint will resign next month to become the president of the conservative think tank, the heritage foundation. he was leader of the tea party caucus. he advocated term limits and lower taxes. >>> bill clinton says he doesn't know if his wife will run for president in 2016. former president clinton is here in the bay area for a three-night appearance as part of the celebrity forum speaker series at deanza college in cupertino. now, responding to an audience question, he says hillary clinton is in breath shape and has unbelievable stamina but she needs to rest before deciding what she will do next. secretary clinton sas shade she doesn't want to continue as secretary of state for president obama's second term. >>> there's developing news coming out from afghanistan. afghan president hamid karzai criticizing the u.s. during an interview with nbc news. president karzai blamed u.s. and nato forces for some of the insecurity in his country. he says he doesn't like the fact that hundreds of afghan prais

billion in taxes. one of those conservatives is senator jim demint. listen to what he said. >> republicans should not be conceding that the federal government needs more money, negotiating with ourselves, and treating the president's proposal like it's serious. this is not a time to negotiate with ourselves. we need to invite the president to work with us, his proposal was so outlandish, i don't think we should go back to the table until he puts something there that we can work with. >> reporter: now, brooke, house republican leaders are particularly those in speaker boehner's office are saying this is proof that they have moved away from the traditional republican position, moving towards the white house. so the white house should take that into consideration. but there definitely is an important undercurrent we should explore here, which is the fact that at the end of the day, if there is a deal, i talked to some republicans who say that the speaker really has to be careful to get the majority of a majority of his republican conference in order to make sure that he -- >>

announcement of senator jim demint who will be leaving the senate after nearly two terms. this is from friday politico. just as on the conference but still, arizona on the independent line. i wanted to call and regarding obama's priorities. i think it should be related to pregnancy. there are too many children being bored. too many do not have the resources. host: ok. we will leave it there. robert is on the phone. caller: the blacks and mexicans stick together and vote as a block. as a minority party, the blacks and mexicans to vote as a block. host: from our twitter page. the outlook section of "the washington post." a look at their styles and approaches to the job. also, a piece on hillary clinton. president truman's oldest grandson, who was the first truman to travel to japan. tonight on c-span 3, a look at hiroshima. a talk with his trip and what he learned it. learned through his words teacher made that his grandfather went through and now he went through in hiroshige of. 6:00 for those on the west coast on c-span 3. here is a preview. [video clip] >> i tried to look down and i saw so m